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It looks like we'll be getting the Apple Store's iPhone trade-in program a bit sooner than we thought. Apple spilled the beans to CNBC's Jon Fortt, who reports that the iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program is launching today across the US—not in September as previously rumored. But there's a catch: while Apple puts the value of your old phone onto a gift card, you're actually required to spend the balance on a new iPhone. In addition, you have to buy that new phone at the same time that you trade in your old one.

This won't be a deal-breaker for most who are interested in Apple's trade-in program—if you're taking your old, functioning iPhone in to trade it for an Apple gift card, odds are good that you plan to walk out with a new iPhone anyway.

This may be another reason to go with a third-party trade-in service if you're looking to maximize the value of your old phone—most offer more for your hardware than Apple reportedly will, and they generally give you cash instead of credit toward a new phone. Still, it's yet another option for consumers looking to discard their old devices responsibly. For Apple (and Brightstar, its partner company), it presents an opportunity to resell some older, refurbished hardware at a tidy profit.

9to5Mac, which appears to have gotten its hands on a slide deck informing Apple Store employees about the program, has some additional details to report. The iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5 will all be eligible for trade-in, and the value you receive for your phone will of course be dependent on its physical condition. The condition of the screen, buttons, and casing will all be used to determine the phone's value, as will the presence or absence of water damage.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

Agreed, at first it sounded bad, but they aren't buying your phone, they are giving you a discount on a new one for trading in the old one. It does make the whole "gift card" step a little odd, though.

Makes sense, I guess. 90% of the time, when you trade in an old phone you're moving up to a newer model, and Apple has been very clear for a long time that they want nothing to do with even the idea of anybody switching from iPhone to Android or Blackberry or Windows Phone. I do wonder if it has to be one-to-one or you can trade in two iPhones 4 and come away with one iPhone 5 (what if you just want to downsize?).

So they can't just stop at giving you a pittance for your phone, they also demand that the pittance be spent on them, on a specific product for some reason... what a raw deal.

(Not just hatin' on Apple, I'm an iPhone user myself but a raw deal is a raw deal)

Raw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me. Going from an iPhone 4 to a 5S with even $50 off is a good deal to me. Relieves me of the headache of the slimy Paypal and eBay route, and I avoid possibly getting shanked by someone on Craigslist. I'd take $100 for my 4 from Apple and shave that off a $399 5S every day of the week. My dilemma is do I take that discount, or use that iPhone 4 and Frameograph at Road Atlanta in October and get a full time lapse of the Petit Le Mans. It's a tough decision whether I want to save that $100 or get an awesome time lapse of the race with the 4 and good video/pictures with the 5S. It's not a raw deal at all, it's a great deal. I just have to decide if I want one or the other.

In other news, General Motors announced today that you must buy a new GM car to get their rebates, DelMonte announced the coupons they print in the paper are only good for the item mentioned on the coupon, and Safeway announced that their sale prices only apply if you buy the item on sale.

Makes sense, I guess. 90% of the time, when you trade in an old phone you're moving up to a newer model, and Apple has been very clear for a long time that they want nothing to do with even the idea of anybody switching from iPhone to Android or Blackberry or Windows Phone. I do wonder if it has to be one-to-one or you can trade in two iPhones 4 and come away with one iPhone 5 (what if you just want to downsize?).

Good luck finding an Android or Blackberry or Windows Phone in an Apple Store.

As long as the trade-in value is reasonable (just like trading in a car), this is actually a substantial improvement. When my wife did the old trade-in system, she had to mail in her phone (in a box they provided), and eventually got an Apple Store gift card. But it was several weeks later. Of course, she wanted to then use it to buy music and apps, which you can't do unless you use the gift card to buy an iTunes card, which has frustrated her to no end, but oh well.

Plus, this just makes sense for Apple. Least they just start serving as a dumping ground for people to just hand over a bunch of phones from dubious sources, get a gift card, and immediately sell it on eBay. My company has a team that has to keep an eye out for people who steal items from our store, try to return them and get a gift card as compensation, and then sell them online.

So they can't just stop at giving you a pittance for your phone, they also demand that the pittance be spent on them, on a specific product for some reason... what a raw deal.

(Not just hatin' on Apple, I'm an iPhone user myself but a raw deal is a raw deal)

Sorry, but it is called a TRADE IN program for a reason. Meaning you are trading in your existing phone for a newer phone. The program is not called a BUY BACK program, if it were then you would have a something to beef about. But sine it is not a buy back you cannot complain. Just sell your phone on Craig s List then like everyone else does.

How much will they actually give supposing that the phone is in normal condition? Every time I've considered one of these programs for used electronics I get offered an incredibly low price, even if the equipment isn't very old at all.

How much will they actually give supposing that the phone is in normal condition? Every time I've considered one of these programs for used electronics I get offered an incredibly low price, even if the equipment isn't very old at all.

The unfortunately fact is you will always get less than you can sell it for. Companies don't take them back out of the goodness of their hearts, they want to sell them.The best option financially is always to sell yourself, but the real question is what is convenience worth?

Good luck finding an Android or Blackberry or Windows Phone in an Apple Store.

Yes, but you could still buy one elsewhere with the proceeds from selling your old phone. Which is why they don't (a) give you cash, or (b) let you trade in an iPhone toward a Mac or an iPad or iPod Touch, any of which would mean you're still in the market for a new phone.

Ebay/Paypal have been around for a long time now, I think referring to them as slimy is underrating them tremendously.

Obviously you have neither used Ebay/PayPal or never been ripped off by a seller and then after filing going through the lengthy complaint process, never had Ebay and PayPal give you the proverbial one finger salute and tell you "sucks to be you, but we side with sellers in all disputes"

So they can't just stop at giving you a pittance for your phone, they also demand that the pittance be spent on them, on a specific product for some reason... what a raw deal.

(Not just hatin' on Apple, I'm an iPhone user myself but a raw deal is a raw deal)

Raw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me. Going from an iPhone 4 to a 5S with even $50 off is a good deal to me. Relieves me of the headache of the slimy Paypal and eBay route, and I avoid possibly getting shanked by someone on Craigslist. I'd take $100 for my 4 from Apple and shave that off a $399 5S every day of the week. My dilemma is do I take that discount, or use that iPhone 4 and Frameograph at Road Atlanta in October and get a full time lapse of the Petit Le Mans. It's a tough decision whether I want to save that $100 or get an awesome time lapse of the race with the 4 and good video/pictures with the 5S. It's not a raw deal at all, it's a great deal. I just have to decide if I want one or the other.

How much do you pay your phone company to use that 4? $50/month? $80? $100? How much more will it cost you - per month - to add a 5 to your plan? And you're quibbling over a $100 trade-in? Get serious. If you can afford two plans, the $100 is meaningless in the long run.

I don't think that he will be paying his phone company anything to use the phone as a camera.

But there's a catch: while Apple puts the value of your old phone onto a gift card, you're actually required to spend the balance on a new iPhone. In addition, you have to buy that new phone at the same time that you trade in your old one.

Like every product Apple has ever sold, I'm sure the trade-in value will be balanced finely on the "worth it" / "not worth it" line.

I'm assuming I'll be replacing my 4s with a 5s (I'm a fan boy, but not so big I'll make my mind up without seeing it . I figure $300 for the 4s on eBay and probably $200 from Apple. $100 is real money, no doubt, but the fact that I don't have to package, ship, potentially wait a week for payment, etc, might be worth that.

Ebay/Paypal have been around for a long time now, I think referring to them as slimy is underrating them tremendously.

Obviously you have neither used Ebay/PayPal or never been ripped off by a seller and then after filing going through the lengthy complaint process, never had Ebay and PayPal give you the proverbial one finger salute and tell you "sucks to be you, but we side with sellers in all disputes"

[quote="[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=25198399#p25198399]Onerunjunior[/urlRaw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me. [/quote]

The fact you can say a phone with a rear cracked glass is in impeccable condition concerns me.

Why give you money on a card if you can only spend it on another phone? And why force you to use it right then?

Well, we're all just guessing as to why they are doing anything, but I'd think the gift card route allows them to have two lines running -- selling and buying. They want a trade-in since they want to both keep you on their platform and probably to dissuade stolen phones from being traded in. That'd also be the big reason for making you spend it then and there. They don't want to become an electronics money launderer.

So they can't just stop at giving you a pittance for your phone, they also demand that the pittance be spent on them, on a specific product for some reason... what a raw deal.

(Not just hatin' on Apple, I'm an iPhone user myself but a raw deal is a raw deal)

Raw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me. Going from an iPhone 4 to a 5S with even $50 off is a good deal to me. Relieves me of the headache of the slimy Paypal and eBay route, and I avoid possibly getting shanked by someone on Craigslist. I'd take $100 for my 4 from Apple and shave that off a $399 5S every day of the week. My dilemma is do I take that discount, or use that iPhone 4 and Frameograph at Road Atlanta in October and get a full time lapse of the Petit Le Mans. It's a tough decision whether I want to save that $100 or get an awesome time lapse of the race with the 4 and good video/pictures with the 5S. It's not a raw deal at all, it's a great deal. I just have to decide if I want one or the other.

How much do you pay your phone company to use that 4? $50/month? $80? $100? How much more will it cost you - per month - to add a 5 to your plan? And you're quibbling over a $100 trade-in? Get serious. If you can afford two plans, the $100 is meaningless in the long run.

I have one line that I pay $80 a month on. If I get a 5S with a $100 discount it would cost me $100 for the 16gb or $300 for the 64gb 5S (if the pricing and capacity remains the same, which they most likely will). I won't have more than one line and $99 5S is, wait for it, $100 cheaper than a $199 16gb 5S. So that $100 isn't meaningless because I'm on contract. If I trade it in, then I won't have a line to "add" a 5S to. Maybe that's where the misunderstanding is coming from. To me that $100 isn't meaningless. My debate was if it was worth $100 to forego the trade in and instead use that 4 to take an 11 hour time lapse of the race at Road Atlanta in October, no whether or not the $100 was a good deal overall. My case is specific to me, not a representation of the value of trading a phone in to deduct that cost from a new phone.

How much will they actually give supposing that the phone is in normal condition? Every time I've considered one of these programs for used electronics I get offered an incredibly low price, even if the equipment isn't very old at all.

That's because this isn't a value pitch, it's a convenience pitch. Just like trading in a used car at a dealership. Many people will do it, because it's easier and hassle-free. And a phone is like a car, in that you never really need two of them at once.

Raw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me.

The fact you can say a phone with a rear cracked glass is in impeccable condition concerns me.

I didn't drop the phone to break it. The phone doesn't have a scratch on it, I just squeezed the back too hard when trying to push bubbles out of the clear screen protector on the glass back. And we all know just how flimsy those back glasses are. Friend of mine bounced one off my plastic center console and had one break from that. Other than the back being cracked, the phone is immaculate.

Like every product Apple has ever sold, I'm sure the trade-in value will be balanced finely on the "worth it" / "not worth it" line.

I'm assuming I'll be replacing my 4s with a 5s (I'm a fan boy, but not so big I'll make my mind up without seeing it . I figure $300 for the 4s on eBay and probably $200 from Apple. $100 is real money, no doubt, but the fact that I don't have to package, ship, potentially wait a week for payment, etc, might be worth that.

Like I said, right there on the line.

If you only have one phone how are you going to give Apple the phone and sell it on ebay?

[quote="[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=25198399#p25198399]Onerunjunior[/urlRaw deal? If I trade in my iPhone 4 with a cracked rear glass and otherwise impeccable condition even $100 would be a screaming deal for me.

The fact you can say a phone with a rear cracked glass is in impeccable condition concerns me.[/quote]

Like every product Apple has ever sold, I'm sure the trade-in value will be balanced finely on the "worth it" / "not worth it" line.

I'm assuming I'll be replacing my 4s with a 5s (I'm a fan boy, but not so big I'll make my mind up without seeing it . I figure $300 for the 4s on eBay and probably $200 from Apple. $100 is real money, no doubt, but the fact that I don't have to package, ship, potentially wait a week for payment, etc, might be worth that.

Like I said, right there on the line.

If you only have one phone how are you going to give Apple the phone and sell it on ebay?

Anyone who would buy a used iphone off ebay for $300 is a fool.

The poster doesn't say they are going to make money from both places. They are comparing what they would make off ebay, $300, and what Apple will probably give them, $200. And buying a used iPhone off eBay has kept my parents on business as far as iPhones go. I bought them 3G's and 3GS's off eBay without an issue and have also bought replacement parts from there. Buying a used iPhone isn't stupid. Why do you believe that? Did you get screwed once or something?

If you only have one phone how are you going to give Apple the phone and sell it on ebay?

Anyone who would buy a used iphone off ebay for $300 is a fool.

I was comparing the two options: I can get $300 from eBay or $200 from Apple. The question is if the convenience is worth my paying $100 more for a new phone.

...and I don't think people buying used phones is at all foolish. Even if they aren't unlocked by default, you have freedom to move around carriers, or even use it as a wifi-only device with no expensive contracts.

Ebay/Paypal have been around for a long time now, I think referring to them as slimy is underrating them tremendously.

Obviously you have neither used Ebay/PayPal or never been ripped off by a seller and then after filing going through the lengthy complaint process, never had Ebay and PayPal give you the proverbial one finger salute and tell you "sucks to be you, but we side with sellers in all disputes"

WTF? I initiated a PayPal dispute with a HK parts vendor who shipped us the wrong parts, and I got credited for the full purchase price and shipping, with no additional questions asked (beyond the initial forms).

How much will they actually give supposing that the phone is in normal condition? Every time I've considered one of these programs for used electronics I get offered an incredibly low price, even if the equipment isn't very old at all.

The unfortunately fact is you will always get less than you can sell it for. Companies don't take them back out of the goodness of their hearts, they want to sell them.The best option financially is always to sell yourself, but the real question is what is convenience worth?

This is not always the case. A 3rd party buyer of used X will have some level of uncertainty as to whether or not he can repair it and salvage any value from it, so this uncertainty get reflected in a lower offered price. The manufacturer has far less uncertainty, since they have better diagnostic tools, access to all the parts (even those unavailable on the grey market) and the tooling required to properly disassemble the unit. This lower uncertainty may result in the ability to pay more and still make their profits.

The greater the fraction of proprietary parts and ridiculous dis/assembly steps, the greater this risk arbitrage will be, and Apple's recent products tend to have a lot of both.

Why give you money on a card if you can only spend it on another phone? And why force you to use it right then?

Are you really complaining about the gift card step? Who cares about the gift card step?

If you think the trade-in deal is a good deal, then you'll do it. If you think it's a bad deal, then you still have all the same third-party options you had before. The gift card step hardly seems like something that anyone should bother thinking twice about.

I mean, it would be weird if you took the position "this is a great idea for Apple to do, except I'm against it because of the gift card step in the middle".

I am more than a little shocked to see that the 3Gs has a number of $100+ completed sales on EBay. I don't yet have an urge to upgrade (I'd rather add a tablet to the mix than buy an uber-phone), but I figured the value was far less.